Recalls

Toyota is announcing a recall for the 2022 model year Sienna. The recall involves an issue with its seat belts, which might not be able to do what they are supposed to do in the first place. To be precise, 2,259 units of the 2022 Toyota Sienna are affected by faulty seat belts. Affected vehicles have outboard second-row seat belt assemblies that were manufactured with an incorrect D-ring, which leads to the directional low-friction insert facing the wrong direction.

It seems that the folks at Jeep (Stellantis) can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to recalls. Just a month ago, the company announced a recall for the Grand Cherokee L due to an issue with its high beams, affecting a little over 7,000 units. This time around, the scale of the recall is much larger, and it involves nearly 100,000 vehicles.

Tesla is announcing a recall via the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that the company is recalling 7,600 units of the Model S and Model X due to faulty airbags.

As cars get more complex and high-tech, recalls are seemingly becoming more common nowadays. Audi is yet another prime example of this as the company announces a recall affecting a swath of 2021 and 2022 models due to issues surrounding their rearview cameras.

A car that can break the 200-mph barrier uses some pretty beefy bits and pieces to make that speed a reality. However, the equipment needed to bring you back to a standstill, most notably the brakes, is just as integral as the other parts. So imagine you are driving your 200+ mph Italian supercar when you press the brake pedal and nothing happens. That is a possibility, we are finding out, in the Ferrari 458 and 488 models made between September 26, 2009, and August 28, 2019.

Are you experiencing trouble with your Jeep Grand Cherokee L’s high beams? Fret not, because Chrysler (FCA US, LLC) has issued a recall to remedy this issue. This comes just after a month when the same vehicle was also recalled for issues surrounding its rearview camera.

It looks like Subaru made an oopsie with a batch of Ascents. Out of 293 of the new SUVs manufactured last month, the automaker didn’t make the correct spot welds on the B-pillar during manufacturing. The company has issued a notice to all its dealers to stop sales immediately until a factory representative has inspected them. A handful of people who have bought the car from this batch will get a brand new Ascent in exchange. But what’s the remedy for the faulty cars? Simple - Destroy them!

The 2017 Mercedes-Benz G65 is so fast that the company has recalled all the 20 copies sold in the U.S. to electronically limit it. Shocking? Well, it’s too fast when going backward. The German SUV is so powerful that the speed limitation of the reverse gear might fail, and allow the car to speed away in the excess of 16 mph. If any abrupt changes are made while steering, “the vehicle could become unstable which could lead to a vehicle rollover, increasing the risk of injury to the vehicle’s occupants.”

Porsche is known to produce, perhaps, the most reliable cars in the industry today. However, they have been haunted by recalls in the past, and there’s another one yet again; this time affecting certain Panamera models. Porsche has issued a recall for the same and has stopped the sale of the new Panamera models until further notice.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is voluntarily recalling roughly 228,508 Ram 1500 and Heavy Duty pickups due to an issue with the Brake Transmission Shift Interlock on trucks with a column-mounted shifter. The system keeps the shift level from leaving Park without the vehicle’s key in the ignition and the brake pedal depressed.

The problem occurs when the BTSI system overheats, potentially occurring when the brake pedal is held for an extended time while the transmission is in Park. Once overheated, the BTSI system fails to keep the shift lever in Park without the brake depressed and ignition on. This means the at even without the key inserted, the truck could be shifted into gear or neutral, causing an unintentional roll-away.

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The pin has finally dropped on the Ford Focus RS’ beleaguered 2.3-liter Ecoboost engine. After months of investigating, Ford has acknowledged that the Ecoboost engine powering the hot hatch has an issue that causes it to consume coolant fluid. Speaking with Autocar, the Blue Oval admitted that the problem causes some 2016 and 2017 models of the Focus RS to produce “white exhaust smoke,” a by-product of burning coolant during cold running.

Owning a Bugatti Chiron affords you a different set of luxuries. That’s especially true when it comes to issues affecting the $3 million supercar, and the subsequent recalls that come with it. See, Bugatti doesn’t do recalls the way Volkswagen, Toyota, or even BMW do. When the Chiron has issues, Bugatti sends one of its “Flying Doctors” to your address, wherever you are in the world. This is important now because these Flying Doctors are expected to add on to their miles after the French automaker announced a particular issue surrounding the Chiron’s seat brackets.

BMW is recalling all the i3 EVs sold in the U.S., both electric and range-extended models, following results from a crash test by the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA). The German automaker is also stopping i3 sales until it can fix the issue. The small electric car failed a front rigid barrier crash with a five-foot-tall, 110-pound female in the driver’s who is not wearing a seatbelt. According to the NHTSA, this situation produces a marginally higher risk of neck injury. The recall affects all i3 cars sold in the United States from model years 2014 through 2018, which covers the entire production run for the U.S. market.

The recall will commence in January when all owners will receive a letter to take their cars to dealerships for a fix. BMW says that customers can continue driving their i3s until then, claiming that the car remains safe when the driver wears a seat belt. "While BMW’s compliance testing showed results well below the required limits, more recent testing has shown inconsistent results," BMW said in a statement. "Consequently, BMW has issued a recall and is working with the agency to understand the differences in the test results. A remedy is forthcoming."

Granted, the recall doesn’t seem like a big deal safety-wise (you are wearing a seat belt, right?), but it didn’t happen too often for an entire nameplate to be affected and called back. It will be interesting to see what kind of fix will BMW find for a safety issue like this one.

Kia Motors America has recalled 342,381 Souls once again due to an unsuccessful steering issue fix that took place the first time. The first instance was in November 2015, making this the second recall in a span of two years. The recall is stated for the models manufactured between July 21, 2013 and September 30, 2015. These include the Soul and Soul EV’s.

According to a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the pinion plug is not safely secured. This means the pinion gear could separate from the steering gear assembly, resulting in a loss of steering control. Despite identifying and acknowledging the issue previously, they were not able to rectify the problem completely. As per the report, "The driver will hear a clunking noise from the steering rack while turning the steering wheel."

Kia issued a statement saying that they are not aware of any injuries caused by the issue. Depending on the car, Kia will either secure the pinion plug correctly or, if required, replace the whole steering assembly. Dealers will begin recalling the affected cars in mid-November. While this is a voluntary recall, it may be noted that customers who have paid for the first repair will be reimbursed.

BMW is recalling a whopping one million vehicles in North America over two separate issues involving fire risks. Both recalls include cars produced from 2006 to the 2011 model years. One recall covers 670,000 3 Series models from 2006 to 2011 model years, while the second recall is issued for 740,000 cars from 2007 to 2011 model years. The latter includes the 128i, 3 Series, 5 Series, X3, X5, and Z4 models. Although these figures amount to more than 1.4 million units, BMW says the recalls overlap and cover about one million examples. Nearly all cars have been sold in the United States, while about 15,000 are from Canada. The recalls may expand to other countries in the future, but no specific announcement has been made as of this writing.

The first recall for the 3 Series models only will address a wiring issue for heating and air conditioning system. According to the company’s report for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the systems may overheat and could increase the risk of a fire in the car. BMW has reportedly been monitoring the issue since 2008 and has made some improvements in 2011, but some incidents from 2015 and 2016, which led to injuries, prompted a mass recall. The second recall is about a valve heater issue that may cause damage to the engine compartment. No injuries or crashes related to this problem have been reported so far. All cars involved will have their wiring harnesses and valve heaters replaced at BMW dealers, free of charge.

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Ford is issuing a safety recall for roughly 1.3 million F-150 and Super Duties from 2015 to 2017 over concerns the door latch can become inoperable, which could lead to the door not opening, or worse, the door flying open while driving. Ford says two mechanical problems can lead to the condition. One, the latch could become frozen and two, the cable running from the inside handle to the latch can become kinked. In either scenario, serious safety problems arise.

Basically, it boils down to the door not latching or unlatching when it shouldn’t. That’s bad, especially if somebody needed to enter or exit quickly, say in an emergency. What’s worse, Ford says the door could appear closed, yet the latch be unsecured. That could lead the door to fling open while taking a turn. Forget to put a seatbelt on, and somebody is leaving the truck in a bad way.

Thankfully, Ford says it has no reports of injuries stemming from this problem but is replacing door latches on a select number of aluminum-bodied F-Series trucks. These include the current-generation F-150 built from March 2014 up through the new 2017 Super Duty built in 2016. The full list of recalled trucks is below. The recall covers 1,101,107 F-Series trucks in the U.S., 222.408 in Canada, and 21,090 in Mexico for a total of 1,344,605.

Ford’s solution to the problem is installing a “water shield” over the door latches to prevent water from getting inside. Ford didn’t specify whether the latches freeze due to rust or if actual ice was accumulating in colder weather. Regardless, Ford dealership technicians will inspect the parts and repair them if necessary.

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Ford just issued two of the smallest safety compliance recalls in history. The automaker has reason to believe three 2016 Escape crossovers and four Police Interceptor Utility Vehicles left the factory with defects, which could potentially cause harm to users. These laughably small recalls are juxtaposed against another recall announced at the same time. This one affects 402,000 Transit vans built between 2015 and 2017. While these larger recalls have seemingly become “business as usual” for automakers, it’s rare to hear a voluntarily recall for vehicles in the single digits.

In fact, only BMW has Ford beat, according to online information. It recalled a single – one, uno, 1.0 – 2017 X3 xDrive28i back in October of 2016 for an issue with its electronic power steering. Of course, I’m not counting boutique automakers with relatively tiny production numbers like McLaren, Pagani, and Koenigsegg. At the opposite end of the recall spectrum, the ongoing Takata airbag recall has entangled more than two-dozen automakers and nearly 70 million vehicles. The recall began in 2013 due to faulty inflators that could explode upon airbag deployment, sending metal shrapnel into passengers’ faces. Sadly, at least 11 deaths and more than 150 injuries have been reported in the U.S. alone. Thankfully, Ford has no reports of injuries resulting from the Explorer, Escape, or Transit van. So what exactly is prompting these recalls? Keep reading to find out.

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